1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine for distributing and planing ballast supporting a railroad track comprising two rails fastened to ties, each rail having a gage side and a field side, which comprises an elongated machine frame supported on the track by undercarriages for mobility along the track in an operating direction, a ballast broom extending transversely across the track and mounted on the machine frame at a rear end thereof in the operating direction, a ballast plow arrangement mounted on the machine frame forwardly of the ballast broom in the operating direction, and a ballast storage container mounted on the machine frame and having at least one discharge opening enabling ballast stored in the container to be discharged onto the track.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A ballast distributing and planing machine of this type has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,184, dated Oct. 12, 1971. The machine carries a plow for shaping and planing the ballast, and the ballast storage container receives ballast swept up from the ballast bed for storing therein and redistributes the stored ballast in desired areas of the track through discharge openings in the bottom of the container. The discharge openings may be selectively opened and closed by pivotal closures operated by hydraulic drives. This arrangement is not capable of quickly responding to different ballasting conditions since further ballast continues to flow out of the openings while the pivotal closures are closed. Furthermore, any ballast jammed in the opening by the pivoting closure as it closes the opening will prevent complete closing and may also interfere with the subsequent opening thereof.
British patent No. 1,169,721, published Nov. 5, 1969, discloses a mobile ballast surfacing machine with a rotary broom directing swept-up ballast into a storage container. The discharge openings of the ballast storage container may be selectively opened and closed by hydraulically operated arcuate slides. This arrangement suffers from the same disadvantages.
British patent No. 1,541,038, published Feb. 21, 1979, discloses a mobile ballast cleaning machine equipped with an arrangement for redistributing the cleaned ballast to the track. The cleaned ballast is stored in a container and may be selectively redistributed therefrom through discharge openings. The ballast flow through the openings is controlled by hydraulically operated pivotal shutters, and the closing movement is made more difficult because the shutters are subjected to the entire weight of the ballast flowing out of the container through the shuttered opening and the closing force must counteract this weight.